Street-railway switch



(No Model.)

0. BANGS.

STREET RAILWAY SWITCH.

No. 317,282. Patented May 5,1885.

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UNITED STATES PATEN T OFFIC OLIVER BANGS, OF NEW HAVEN, CONNECTICUT.

STREET-RA! LWAY SWITCH.

SEECIPICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 317,282, dated May 5,1885.

Application filed February 2, 1885. (No model.)

To ctZZ whom it may concern.-

Be it known that I, OLIVER Barres, of New Haven, in the county ofNewHav'en and State of Connecticut, have invented a new Improvement inStreet-Railway Switches; and I do hereby declare the following, whentaken in connection with accompanying drawings and the letters ofreference marked thereon, to be a full, clear, and exact description ofthe same, and which said drawings constitute part of this specification,and represent, in-

Figure 1, a plan View of the switch, showing its relation to the maintrack, the switch in its normal condition:or as forming a continuousmain track; Fig. 2, the switch as turned automatically by the carscoming from the approaching track onto the main track.

This invention relates to an improvement in the switch such as employedin turn-outs on street-railways.

As more generally constructed, the rails are made rigid at the switch,the wheel on one side running over the rail as it comes from one trackonto the other, and so as to drop down when it reaches the track it isapproaching, which produces not only an unpleasant jolting to the car,but brings great wear upon the flange of the wheel as well as upon theswitch.

The object of my invention is to overcome these difficulties; and itconsists in leaving a space between the end of the outside approachingrail and the end of the corresponding rail on the main track, thecontinuation of the main rail from the said end of the main track madeelastic, and constructed with a block to fill the said recess betweenthe end of the approaching rail and the said end of the main rail, theupper surface of the said block constructed with a longitudinal groovecorresponding substantially to the flange of the wheel, combined with aguard-rail inside the opposite rails, as more fully hereinafterdescribed.

A represents the inside rail of the main track, and B the outside railof the same track; C, the outside rail of the switcher turn-out, and Dthe other rail of the switch or turn-out. In theillustration I show aswitch or turn-out as the main track coming from the left and the switchcomin g from the rightan arrangement common in single-trackstreet-railways, the

approach being indicated by arrows. The term inside is applied asindicating the left-hand rail from the direction of the approach.Between the end of the approaching rail 0 and the end of the insiderail, A, of the main track I leave a recess.

E represents a continuation of the rail of the main track. It is fixedat a point distant from the end of the rail A-say as at abut from thatpoint to the end of the rail A it is free, and is elastic, so as to bemoved transversely, and return. At its end next the main rail it isconstructed with a block, F, which fills the recess between the end ofthe approaching rail C and the corresponding end of the main rail A. Onthe uppersurface this block is constructed with a groove, 2), into whichthe flange of the wheel may run without bearing upon the bottom of thegroove. The rail D terminates alongside the rail B, but so as to leavean opening,d,between them, and through which the flange of the wheel mayrun. Inside the rails D and B, at their intersection, a guard-rail, G,is arranged, curving toward the opposite side. As the cars approach fromthe left, one wheel will follow the rail A and readily pass ontothespring-rail E as a continn ation of the said rail A, while theotherwheel on the rail B will follow that rail, and the cars readilypass along the main track without interference, or effect from theswitch, the rails'being practically continuous, and as seen in Fig. 1.Coming from the opposite direction on the rails CD, the one wheelfollows the rail D, its flange striking the guard-rail G to hold itagainst the rail D and lead it onto the rail B. This guard draws theopposite wheel against the outside of the springrail E, and because theother wheel is held by the guard G and cannot be drawn toward theopposite side the wheel upon that opposite side,bearing against theoutside of the springrail E, turns that rail inward, bringing the grooveinward, and so that the part of the block F outside the groove comesinto line with the approaching track C and the main rail, andpractically forms a continuation of the same, as seen in Fig. 2, so thatthe wheel on the track C passes along the block F and onto the rail A,as if upon acontinuous track. So soon, however, as the wheel passes fromthe spring-track E, the elasticity of the said spring-track forces itback into its normal position, and into line with the main track, a

" switch is automatically brought into line with the approaching railand the main rail, so that the cars come from the switch onto the mainrail again as if upon a continuous track. It will be understood that alike switch is provided at the opposite end of the turnout. By

, this construction the jolting experienced in the usual construction ofthe turnouts and switches is avoided. This representation of the switchas applied to a turn-out will be suf cient to illustrate the applicationof the invention to switches at other points. It will be understood thatthe spring-rail is to be made fast to a metal plate,which extends toform a support for the ends of both the rails A and O, and upon whichplate the spring-rail will move, and as shown in the drawings.

The hereindescribed switch for railroads, consisting in thetransversely-elastic rail E, forming a continuation of the main rail A,constructed with a block, F, at its free end, to abut against the end ofthe said main rail A, and set into a space between the end of the mainrail and the approaching rail 0, the said block F, constructed with agroove, b, in its upper surface, combined with corresponding oppositerails, B and D, and the guard-rail G at the intersection of the saidrails B and D,

substantially as and for thepurpose described. 0

OLIVER BANGS.

\Vitnesses:

Jos. O. EARLE, J H. SHUMWAY.

